> The problem isn't with the corporations, the problem (if it exists at all!) may be with the legislation.

> Complain about the law.

Do you not suppose that these large corporations with so much money at stake do not in fact use their resources to ensure that laws take their current form? Do believe they are somehow innocent actors in this drama?

I'm absolutely sure Activision Blizzard (a relatively small company) had no significant impact on how these laws were written.

In fairness the quote I responded to was this:

> The problem isn't with the corporations...

Are you saying that _none_ of the corporations with large money at stake are taking the financially rational approach of influencing the current state of the laws to have these "loopholes" or are you just saying that Activision Blizzard hasn't done so. If you're saying the latter, maybe you should edit the post I responded to to make that clear.

Edit: Small edits fixing terrible writing.

You're right. I'm sure there are many such companies, I just seriously doubt Activision Blizzard in particular is one of them.

E: I edited my prior comment.

I love hacker news. The only place you see this on the internet.

ActiBliz is "small" compared to companies like Verizon and comcast etc.. but dont be under the delusion that they dont have capital to make things happen, they're one of the big 3 western game companies (I would say the other two are probably EA and Take Two Int.) with the biggest MMO still alive and kicking (along with other well selling IPs). This industry isnt incapable of touching legislation, one of the biggest thing in the industry right now is EA's legal conquest of keeping lootboxes (or "surprise mechanics" as they call it) in games legal.

I doubt they dreamed up these schemes themselves. Rather they hired some big accountancy firm that does have impacts on how laws are written to do this work.

I wish people would stop bullying these modest ~$40B companies.

Why can’t we complain about both the laws and the companies? I will complain when companies make low quality products, treat their staff badly or whatever. If our only requirement on companies is to follow the law I think we are setting the bar extremely low.

Who do you think lobbies for such laws?

Politicians don’t have to listen to lobbyists. The blame lies with politicians.

Everyone talking to a politician about an issue is a lobbyist, that’s what lobbing means.

It’s easy to think only those people you disagree with are lobbyists, but even just sending a letter to your congressional representative is lobbying. And there are paid lobbyists on both sides of almost every issue.

This is at best half true. There are professional lobbying organizations that have vastly more resources and know how than individuals. And when people complain about lobbyists everyone knows that a this is what is being referenced.

The well connected, paid, lobbyists, who need to register, are only the tip of the iceberg.

So called grass roots lobbying generally involves well funded groups organizing or convincing individuals to do the talking. Pretending that’s somehow different from paid lobbyists is missing how politics works.

Companies and Unions for example are often at odds on specific issues, but they both get sincere individuals to be doing some of the communication.

I only assume the poster above is really referring to corruption, where companies with vested interests are not just 'lobbying' for their outcome, but buying them outright...

Otherwise there is (or at least should be) no difference.

What happens to politicians who don't listen to lobbyists? Do they win reelection?

> Politician's lies are to blame.

FTFY

But with the high cost of being elected, of course politicans follow the money and the corruption that goes with it.

It's helpful to have real world examples for context.

Oh, absolutely. But then the headline would be "$country missed out on $amount in taxes because of lacking regulations" or something similar.